Nebulon

It really doesn't matter whether or not you're a programmer. Go ahead and request changes. But be certain to keep it as a change request. In other words, be professional about it and simply create a point-form list of preferred changes. The key is to be specific regarding what you'd prefer to have changed, and to stay in the mind-set of, "I prefer this to be added, removed, or changed, but I won't be crushed if the programmer doesn't adhere to it." Keep negative emotions out of it. They don't help the process at all. So, in short, feel free to throw your feedback in there. It's useful to the design process. Some designers/programmers are very open to feedback, and others have difficulty seeing what needs to be changed or recognizing the value of the feedback they receive. That's just the way it goes. If this was a more formal process, then we'd have a regimented QA/QC system in place. Of course, we're talking about homebrew titles here. As others have mentioned, it is useful to determine whether the game is intended to be a free or very inexpensive title -- or if it is slated for packing and full retail. If the intention is to make a 'product' then it's fair to expect the bar to be raised. Typically, the most successful games go through heavy-duty play-testing prior to release (or even the alpha stage).

This is great news! Now MS can learn all about how to program a computer -- starting near the bottom, and working their way up. Imagine the improvements we'll see to Windows as a result of this exciting archaeological research.

From what I can find, you are correct -- Gaza is indeed a separate project. However, one wonders just how separate it really is. I guess it depends on what was being talked about around the water cooler at Atari in the 1970s. There are just too many 'coincidences' to ignore. It looks like the 68000-based project I'm thinking of had no official name. Here's a timeline: January 1978 - Jay Miner is appointed chief engineer of Atari home computers. He works closely with systems engineer Joe Decuir. They lead the design of the Atari 800. 1979 - Joe Decuir sketches block diagram for a 68000-based machine with many of the characteristic features that later appeared in the Amiga . February 1982 - Jay Miner and Joe Decuir both request funding for a 68000-based project they'd like to work on. Ray Kassar of Atari declines the request. February 1982 - Jay Miner resigns from Atari. November 1983 - Atari and Amiga sign an agreement to provide Atari with the Amiga chipset. December 1983 - Atari begins plans to release the Amiga/Lorraine chipset as the Atari 1850XL. - That same month, Atari starts working on the Gaza project (this is after technical meetings between Atari and Amiga engineers). April 1984 - The team lead for the Gaza project is re-assigned to the Atari-Amiga project (codenamed Mickey). As for the Amiga being a video game console. That was what the investors wanted and were told. Right from the start, Jay Miner wanted it to be a computer. Hardware engineers at Amiga were sneaking keyboard, parallel, and other peripheral ports into it throughout development.

There are plenty of strong connections between the Atari 8-bit computers and the Amiga. First of which is that both share the same lead designer. The design that became the Amiga was already well underway at Atari before Jay Miner left Atari. Gaza: http://www.atari.com/history/computer-systems 1850XL http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/XL-Pages/xl-range-main.htm The truth is that the Atari ST line is more Commodore than Atari. http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=995

Yeah, the NES version sure is weird. It's like they tried to 'modernize' it and make it play more like other NES games (level bosses, etc...). I could accept all the changes they made if they gave it a different name or maybe called it Gyruss II.

I have one that's eluded me as well. More from my late teenage years, but same idea. It was a platformer on the Amiga (similar to Gods), except that the color palette used a lot of red, yellow, and orange tones. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be set in hades or something like that. The main character was taller and thinner than the character from Gods and used a long hammer for a weapon. He'd swing the hammer over his head in a long arc. Enemies would walk up to you from either side and if you weren't quick enough, they'd sort of teleport or move away from you rapidly (sort of like the blurring effect of The Flash when he runs). I saw it on an original chipset Amiga (A1000, A500, A2000). I'm guessing it was around 1989.

It sounds like the 1981 SEGA game Space Odyssey.

Atarimax cartridge programmer and 8Mbit cartridge. It's eeeexcellent! I suppose I should mention that it was direct from their website and not an eBay purchase. If we're talking eBay, then it would be a couple of power supplies for Atari 8-bit machines.

I'm also in, if the price is in the same range.

The 360 could easily handle this game, so I can't see why they wouldn't do a release for it too.

For $25.00 you should be able to find a working machine with AV, power, and one controller. If the CD drive is broken, it's a bit of a chore to get it to do much. You could mod it, but some mods are easier with a working drive (and some of the mod features make good use of the DVD drive). Of course, if you find another unit that is dead but has a good DVD drive, you could always swap parts. You'll see a 10GB hard drive in there too. It's locked, and needs to be unlocked to use with a mod kit. There are memory cards that plug into the controllers. They're optional and are fairly hard to find. The joystick ports can be adapted to standard USB ports. You'll find adaptors for sale here and there on the web. Again, not a must-have item by any means. So in conclusion, I'd say wait for a more complete XBOX in better condition and for the same price.

Time Pilot Time Pilot '84 Tutankham

Even if it were true, Valve would never sell to EA (or at least I certainly hope they wouldn't).

Nice to see that they got the gameplay speed fast enough this time. That's one thing the previous polygon-based Gauntlet games had a bit of trouble with. Looking forward to trying this.

Wow. That was a really interesting read. Thanks atari8warez for bringing another 8-bit back to life.

The David Lustig article is spot-on. That's how I recall things happening at the time. As for waves or generations, I'm cool either way. ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex being in their own generation is fine. I think the main reason why Atari 2600 and Intellivision get lumped in with them is because they were competing side-by-side on retailers' shelves and demo displays. The same can't really be said for ColecoVision, the Atari 5200, and the NES. In North America at least, the NES was part of a distinctly different wave. Few in the USA and Canada were aware of the NES when it was released in 1983 (as is evidenced by the scant mention of the NES in North American video game publications prior to its 1985 NA launch). There may have been a few new games for the ColecoVision and 5200 in 1985, but those systems were pretty much off the radar at the time. I had a ColecoVision new from the start, was a massive fan of it, watched the games go on clearance in 1984, and couldn't find any games for it at any of the major retailers in 1985.

Move backwards and shoot at them. Then when they shoot at you, keep moving backwards and pull either to the left of right. Their shot will zip right past you.

It was a signed agreement between Nintendo and Coleco. Full details in the book, "The Ultimate History of Video Games".

I also like the fact that home ports are a bit different from the arcade (assuming the port runs well). It's like getting a good remix album.

Oh man! What game is that?? I must stop those nasty trolls from "kiill aall humann!"

Hmmm.... I don't know of any utilities that write Apple II disks to images (just image to disk on the Apple via ADT Pro -- which you mentioned). However, with a bit of hardware, it is possible to copy Apple II diskettes using a PC disk drive. I'm thinking of the Copy II PC board from Central Point Software. So the PC disk drives appear to be mechanically capable of it.

An idea I've had for ages is a plan view with two ships (like Space War, but in a maze). It would include power-ups and a mix of passive and electrified walls. Power-ups that allow you to: - drop mines - deactivate mines - electrify a wall - increase number of simultaneous shots on screen - bounce shots etc...

Atari 2600 - Robot Tank Colecovision - Frenzy (already mentioned, but deserves to be mentioned again) SNES - Operation Logic Bomb and Brain Lord XBOX - Gungriffon Allied Strike

For the Tandy Color Computer 2, I use a Windows 98se machine with a 5.25" DS/DD floppy drive in it. The Keil emulator allows for the PC to access CoCo diskettes. If you have Win98se and the 5.25" drive, then everything you need is here: http://www.voltage-control.com/cocotrns.html You can make a copy of an existing Color Computer disk image, erase the existing files from it so that you have a blank virtual diskette, and simply copy files from a real diskette onto that disk image. Give the new disk image a name and you're good to go.